Tiny Arthur
by draco's annie
Summary: Merlin tries to help Arthur with his mail and the magic goes awry


**_Author's Note:_** This fic was inspired by this very cute adorable pic and made for lil_lollipop36 over on livejournal who was the artist of the fanart. I'd also like to acknowledge srin for the comment about the pic that was inspiration for some of the latter part of the fic.

**Tiny Arthur**

Arthur's mail had become too small after all the times it had been repaired over the years and he had requested new mail to be made for him. One of the maids had taken his measurements and passed them on to armourer.

When Arthur received word the following night that the new mail was ready, he sent Merlin to collect it. His manservant did as he was told; bringing the hauberk back up to Arthur's chambers, along with the rest of the armour the Prince usually wore when he trained his knights, so that it would be ready for the mornings training session.

As he walked into the chambers he heard Arthur scrambling to hide behind his wardrobe before bellowing, "Would it hurt you servants to knock and ask permission before entering a room?"

Merlin shut the door behind him and then replied, "Sorry sire," in a tone that was not sorry at all. He continued to walk into the chambers to the opposite side and place the armour on the bench against the wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arthur struggling to get into a pair of pants, his chest bare and beautiful.

"Bloody hell, Merlin!" Arthur cursed. He had finally managed to get his pants on.

"Yes, sire?" Merlin smirked as he turned around to face the Prince.

"You enjoy doing that, don't you?"

Merlin shrugged and smiled in response. "Was there anything else? Or shall I leave you to retire, my Lord?"

Arthur glared at his manservant who continued to smile. He let out a sound of frustration and sauntered over to where Merlin was standing. "You know I can't resist your smile."

That just made Merlin smile even more and wrap his arms around the waist of his future King, pulling him close. Arthur let his arms entangle themselves behind Merlin's back before leaning in for a long goodnight kiss.

In the morning, Merlin rose bright and early as always. He retrieved Arthur's breakfast from the kitchen and took it up to the royal's chambers.

Arthur was still curled up in bed when he entered the room and as tempting as it was to hop into the bed and curl up beside him, Merlin resisted and opened the curtains instead.

"Rise and shine," he exclaimed brightly.

The sun shone through the window and straight into Arthur's face. He automatically pulled his arm up to shield his eyes from the brightness. He grumbled something Merlin couldn't discern before throwing the covers off and moving to sit on the side of his bed with his back to the window.

"Your breakfast is on the table."

"Thanks," Arthur managed as he stood up, still groggy from sleep, and made his way to the table to eat.

Merlin busied himself as Arthur ate; making the bed, setting out the Prince's clothes and armour for the day, picking up dirty clothes Arthur had thrown on the floor the previous night and occasionally plucking a grape or two from the bunch on Arthur's breakfast tray. The blonde gave him filthy looks but didn't stop him.

When Arthur finally got around to getting dressed, Merlin proceeded to hand him each piece of clothing in turn. After Arthur took the new mail, Merlin took up the neck plate ready to fix it in place. As he was doing so, Arthur was fiddling with his belt and had a displeased look on his face.

"Is there something wrong, sire?"

"This hauberk is too big. It won't sit right," Arthur complained.

"I can arrange for it to be smaller," Merlin offered.

"Oh really?" asked Arthur in a sarcastic yet curious tone. "And how would you do that?"

"Stay there," Merlin instructed after he finished fixing the neck plate in place and then moved back from Arthur so he had all of him in his vision. He held out his hand and was about to open his mouth when the Prince interrupted.

"Err… what do you think you're doing?"

"I was about to make it smaller," Merlin explained.

"With your magic?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes," Merlin said, surprised he had to state the obvious. Arthur had known about his magic for a while but liked to pretend he didn't. It was easier that way.

"You sure you know what you are doing?"

"Don't you trust me?"

Arthur looked at his manservant warily. Merlin still held his hand out ready to direct his magic at Arthur's hauberk. He took a deep breath. "I trust you."

He closed his eyes as Merlin began to recite words he didn't understand. He felt the magic wash over him for a few seconds before it stopped abruptly.

He opened his eyes and he could no longer see Merlin standing in front of him. Nothing looked familiar… except… those two large brown mounds…

Arthur looked up. He hadn't… That wasn't…

It was and he had.

"Merlin!" he shouted. Of course, Merlin couldn't hear him. The wizard had started to move closer to him and Arthur felt the ground underneath him tremble each time Merlin put a foot down. When he was close enough, Merlin knelt down and placed his hand next to Arthur.

Arthur looked at the hand and glared at it. Then he decided to kick it. After all, it was the reason he was now as small as mouse.

"Hey," Merlin exclaimed and the loudness of his voice surprised Arthur enough for him to jump back from the wizard's hand. Merlin stifled a laugh at how adorable it was. Arthur heard a rumbling and turned to see the smirk on Merlin's face. He scrunched up his little face in a glare and put his hands on his hips, waiting for his manservant to compose himself.

"Sorry," Merlin eventually whispered, though it didn't sound like a whisper to Arthur in his minuscule state. He moved his hand closer to Arthur's tiny figure, and continuing to talk in a whisper, said "Climb up."

The Prince looked at Merlin's hand and then back up at Merlin. "You better not drop me!" he shouted loud enough for the sound to carry then he turned back to the hand and pushed himself up so that he was able to swing his leg onto it comfortably. From there he rolled into the centre of Merlin's palm and stood up.

When Arthur seemed comfortable, Merlin got to his feet. He wasn't sure what he should do now. How was he going to get Arthur back to his normal size? And how did he make the mistake in the first place? Maybe he was too board in the words he—

"MERLIN!" Arthur shouted, cutting off Merlin's train of thought and demanding his attention. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? I'M SUPPOSED TO BE TRAINING WITH MY KNIGHTS, BUT I CAN'T 'CAUSE I'M TOO SMALL!"

Merlin couldn't help but smile at Arthur's words and how adorable he looked in his tiny state with his arms waving in the air as he expressed his anger. "PUT ME DOWN AND UNDO THIS, THIS INSTANT! I SHOULD PUT YOU IN THE STOCKS FOR THIS!" He let out a cry of frustration and fury before stopping to take in a few deep breathes.

"It's okay," Merlin said in response. "I didn't mean to make you small. I could have been worse. I could have made the hauberk too small and then it would have restricted your breathing and…" Merlin stopped, not wanting to say more as the look on Arthur's face had turned sour. He gave a little chuckle at the face as it was still adorable but this just maybe Arthur glare and turn his back on him.

"Sorry," he said quietly and meant it. Arthur sat on his hand, apparently still upset. He curled his knees up to his chest and crossed his arms. Apparently 'sorry' wasn't going to cut it this time.

He moved his hand closer to his face and then kissed the back of Arthur's little head. The Prince closed his eyes when Merlin started to move his hand and kept them shut as his manservant kissed him.

As Merlin pulled back he heard Arthur grumble. "I hate you."

A frown began to form on the wizards face when Arthur stood up. He turned around and said "Up."

Merlin began to raise his hand. When it was level with chin Arthur said "Stop." So Merlin did. The Prince stretched his arms out and couldn't reach his manservant. "Closer."

Merlin looked at him curiously but did as he was told. When he felt Arthur's tiny hands on his nose, he figured out the Prince's intentions. Arthur placed a kiss on the tip of Merlin's nose which made the man smile.

"This doesn't mean you're forgiven," Arthur said as he rubbed his cheek affectionately on Merlin's nose.

Merlin made his way down to see Gaius. Arthur had reluctantly agreed to go with him and see the physician after Merlin had convinced him Gaius would probably tell him he was crazy when he heard the news. He would have to come down to the physician sooner or later if Merlin was to be believed and if he wanted to be his right size again. Of course, that was possible, but it was more likely that Gaius would believe him and go to Arthur.

So now the tiny Prince sat perched at the base of Merlin's neck in the folds of his neckerchief. He didn't bother knocking on the door when he reached Gaius' quarters but walked straight into the room.

Gaius was preparing a draught for one of the villagers when he entered. "Hello Merlin. You're back early from your duties with Arthur."

Merlin could feel Arthur pout as Gaius said his name. "Umm… funny you should mention that. You see…"

Before Merlin could get another word out, Gaius interrupted. "What have you done now?"

"I didn't mean to," Merlin exclaimed defensively. "It just happened."

"What just happened?" Gaius asked curiously.

"I…I shrunk Arthur," Merlin admitted in a low voice.

"What do you mean, you shrunk Arthur?"

"I mean, he is no longer a normal sized human."

Arthur punched him in the neck. "Ouch. That hurt."

"Good," was the Prince's response, but only Merlin heard.

"What hurt?" asked Gaius, now confused.

"Arthur punched me," Merlin explained.

"How?" Gaius said with his eyebrow raised.

"Oh…" He finally realised Gaius couldn't see Arthur. He put his hand up to wear Arthur sat and coaxed him out of hiding. He plucked him out of his neckerchief and held the Prince out in his hand towards the physician, ignoring his protests and pouting face.

Gaius looked wide eyed at the tiny Arthur in Merlin's hand. "Is that really…?"

"Yes!" Arthur shouted in reply. "It is really me and Merlin really did do this! Make him fix it!"

"Forgive me sire," Gaius said bowing. He spoke to Merlin. "How did you manage to shrink Arthur? What were you trying to do?"

"HE WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE MY HAUBERK SMALLER, NOT ME!" Arthur shouted before Merlin even opened his mouth.

"I see," said Gaius.

"As I said before, I didn't mean to shrink him. I think the meaning of what I said was too broad."

"What did you say?"

Merlin didn't want to say them out loud so he walked over to the table where Gaius usually worked. He let Arthur sit back in his neckerchief and then picked up a quill. He found a blank piece of parchment and scribbled down what he had said. He handed the parchment to Gaius.

After reading the words Gaius understood why Merlin had managed to reduce Arthur to the size of a mouse. What he didn't understand was how Merlin had mixed up this spell with the spell he should have used. He turned a questioning glance to Merlin.

Merlin had the audacity to look innocent. Gaius rolled his eyes but didn't say anything in front of the Prince that might make the situation worse for the wizard than it already was. Instead, he turned the parchment over and picked up the quill. He wrote the spell that would reverse the effects and then handed it back to Merlin.

"That should return Arthur to his rightful size."

"Thanks Gaius."

Merlin began to move out of the physicians chambers when he felt a pull on his neckerchief. He looked down to find that Arthur had slid down to the bottom folds of the material and was looking up at him. "Well aren't you going to make me big again?"

"Err… here?"

"Yes here!"

"I was going to take you back up to your chambers."

"What for? I'm already late for training my knights! They are probably wondering where I am. And besides, if you muck the spell up again, at least Gaius will be here to help straight away."

He had a point.

Merlin looked back at Gaius and he gestured for the young wizard to do as Arthur had said.

He looked back down at Arthur. He was waiting with a rather impatient and grumpy look on his face. It was amazing how he was still somewhat intimidating when he was so small.

He cupped his hand at the top of his sternum, just under where Arthur was sitting. "Hop on and I will place you on the ground."

Arthur turned and followed Merlin's instruction. Merlin did as he promised then stepped back ten paces (on Gaius' count). He held out his hand, pointing his fingers towards the tiny Arthur on the dusty floor. Taking a deep breath, he read the words Gaius had written.

He eyes shone golden as the magic poured out of him and over Arthur's body. The Prince grew before him and the magic cut off automatically when he was at his rightful size again.

Arthur looked around the room before holding his arms out and making sure his body was in portion. His mail was still large and didn't sit right but he would go to see the armourer later that day.

"Thank you Merlin." He nodded his head to the physician, "Gaius."

"You're welcome, sire," Gaius replied.

"Come on Merlin. Let Gaius get back to his work." Arthur started to walk out the door and down the corridor leading to the nearest castle exit.

Merlin lingered a little longer. He smiled at his mentor. "Thank you for not saying anything in front of Arthur."

Gaius shook his head with a smile on his face. "You best be off after him."

"Yes, I should." Merlin hugged Gaius and then took his leave, following the echoing footsteps of his master.

Arthur finally made it out to the training field where all his knights were mingling.

Leon was the first to notices the Prince approaching. When he was in hearing distance Leon asked, "Where have you been, my Lord?"

Arthur said simply, "There was just a tiny matter I had to deal with."

Leon cocked his head at their leader, but knew better than to question the Prince further.


End file.
